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The evaluations were used to develop employment and income estimates that could be used as a measure of the potential economic impact on the Study Area from implementation of new energy supply technologies. Such employment and income might serve to offset potential economic losses from declining irrigation, Implementation of new energy supply technologies could also enhance the profitability of irrigated agriculture and, possibly, delay the economic exhaustion of the Ogallala Aquifer. 1.2 SUMMARY The new energy supply technology assessment was performed in four parts. (1) Survey of alternative technologies. (2) Comparative performance and cost evaluations of feasible techno- logies for typical applications in the Study Area. (3) Economic screening and market penetration analyses of the feasible technologies. (4) Determination of potential employment and income impacts from the installation of the technologies. Because of the large and varied region for which the assessment was performed, the several analyses were, of necessity, generic rather than specific. The methodology was designed, however, to capture as much of the regional variability as possible in order to arrive at representative results, Furthermore, the final penetration assessment was performed for a range of possible future economic conditions which were selected to bracket the range of probable economic impacts over the 40-year study period, A survey of new energy supply technologies and an evaluation of the indigenous resources of the High Plains Study Area identified three techno- logies which have a high probability of implementation in the Study Area. The three technologies were dispersed solar systems, dispersed wind energy systems, and biomass conversion systems. The first two technologies have direct end-use application potential, while the third technology-- biomass conversion--could utilize the large production of agricultural , 1-2